TONY BLAIR’s plans for a powerful new full-time president of Europe look set to become reality after the man charged with drafting a European Union constitution backed the project yesterday.

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former French President who chairs the convention on Europe’s future, supported the EU’s biggest member states who argue that the Union needs a president if it is to punch its weight on the international stage.

However, well-organised opposition from the EU’s small states, which have joined forces with the ten new entrants from Central and Eastern Europe, means that weeks of horsetrading lie ahead.

The smaller countries want to stick with the system under which each member state has six months as EU president.

But M Giscard made his views clear after protracted talks with leaders gathered in Athens to sign the treaty ushering in the ten new members. Asked how many countries opposed the idea of a president, he said: “When you assess these positions, one thing to take into account is the number of states. But we also have to take into account their populations, because we operate in a democratic way here. And the majority of the population is in favour of a somewhat more stable president.”

He also noted that two smaller states, Denmark and Sweden, had just swung behind the idea, which originated in London but was first publicly proposed by President Chirac of France. A new president would be elected by heads of government of EU members and would hold office for five years. The creation of such a post would help to settle the decades-old question posed by Henry Kissinger of whom to call in Europe in an emergency. It could also help to prevent a repetition of the bitter arguments that erupted over Iraq, which overshadowed proceedings yesterday.

Mr Blair has been linked to the new post, which, conveniently, is likely to come into being in 2006, a year or so after the next general election. Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, and José María Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, have also been suggested as prospective candidates.

The new president would be supported by a new foreign minister, who would report to the European Commission and EU heads of government. All members agreed yesterday to go ahead with creating the new post, which is likely to combine the present roles of Chris Patten, the External Relations Commissioner, and Javier Solana, the foreign policy chief, who is answerable to the EU’s member states.

M Giscard is due to present further articles of the draft constitution to senior members of the convention next week. His officials hope that the small countries can be won over with concessions in other areas of the convention, including proposed reforms to the European Commission.

The leaders of 17 old and new members discussed their terms for a deal at a breakfast meeting yesterday.

They are likely to press for the new foreign minister to be a creature of the Commission, the institution that they feel best represents and protects their interests. However, Britain, France and Germany have made clear that they believe that foreign policy is a matter for national governments, as Iraq illustrated, and Britain for one will oppose that.

M Giscard has only 2½ months to reach a broad consensus among 105 ministerial and parliamentary representatives to meet the end-of-June deadline. After that, the new constitution must be agreed unanimously by all members, giving the smaller countries considerable clout.

The two-day Athens summit made some progress on the question of the number of EU commissioners after enlargement. New entrants agreed that in the future they could not all expect to have a commissioner each and some form of rotation would have to be arranged, although initially they will all have their own commissioner.

Plans for an EU congress of national MPs and MEPs look set to be shelved.

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